Workshop Related Resources
-developed for the workshop, Relationship-Rich Education by Joan Middendorf and Akesha Horton
- The slides from the workshop are here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15p_yiXbc87BaqlIQ64R6Q0-mrykCA343/view?usp=sharing
- The Jamboard from the workshop is here: https://jamboard.google.com/d/1buyiHNUw8GCDuH4kJLchYCemlv46FtzwHA8WNlVD6Ts/edit?usp=sharing
Videos Provided by
- Dr. Maria E. Hamilton Abegunde: https://iu.zoom.us/rec/play/97KHDLCn9PCsWeq2cbjBadHeLUIJptqJcmM5i0Cn3j0yy_cur003y6A5r-vpHIpQ7nOwbrll-dsntEot.CNS0HGIAtoNsfMCd?startTime=1629121591000
- Dr. Kalani Craig: https://iu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/t/1_n1b8db4m
- Dr. Meghan Porter:https://blogs.iu.edu/citl/2020/12/07/quick-tip-of-the-week-encouraging-community-in-zoom-classrooms/#.YRwAl9NKiqA. 4:06
Overview
Social and emotional components of learning can reduce achievement gaps by half through teaching in ways that promote connection and encourage student success. There are many ways to do this. Why should we take the time to do this? Because students want to feel welcome in the classroom AND evidence shows this will make them more likely to succeed. In this activity, each of you will learn one of several constructs for building relationships with students and briefly teach it to your table mates.
What single factor makes for an excellent education?
Relationship-Rich Education
Felten and Lambert (2020) argue that there’s a simple answer to this question: Human relationships. Social and emotional components of learning can reduce achievement gaps by half through teaching in ways that promote connection and encourage student success. Their book, Relationship-rich Education, interviewed multiple professors and students for ideas to build connections to our students and to help our students build connections with one another. For example, in the Oakton Community College Persistence project faculty committed during first 3 weeks of semester to:
- Learn to use student names (NameCoach)
- Articulate high academic standards paired with support for where students struggle
- Return an assignment with formative feedback
- Meet one-on-one with each student for 10 minutes
Some other examples…
- Pause class to ask students to compare notes with a few students around them. Students comment on content and format of notes.
- For large classes, let students know you will be there five minutes before class starts to spend some time getting to know each other. Throw a different question out, like “What good food did you eat this week? “Who’s seen a movie they recommend? Which one?”
- (In a math course) when students expressed doubt, encourage them to skip the homework tonight, and instead read about imposter syndrome. Take 5 minutes in class next day to talk about imposter syndrome.
- At the end of class, ask students to write in the chat, some success they had in the last week (which could be anything from seeing their family or getting into medical school
Most instructors know how to build relationships—if we simplify these efforts and do it more, we’ll get good results.
What is mindset? Why does it matter for instructors?
When instructors have a “weed-out” mentality or teach to the “best” students who seem likely go on to graduate school in our field, it can result in helplessness and poor persistence for many other students. Prof. Mary Murphy of IUB found that growth mindset reminds students course skills are malleable and the teacher can show them how to develop these skills. With an encouraging attitude towards effort and persistence, all students can improve their abilities to do well in a class. Instructors with a growth mindset approach the classroom with the attitude that all students can succeed. With growth mindset, the instructor might…
- Stress that improvement with the class comes with hard work and that anyone can be proficient if they try hard enough. Students will have the insights they need to do well in the class. Says: “I want you all to learn the material and I will help you learn it.”
- Provides a checklist to guide students through the elements of complicated projects or papers
- Develop exam wrappers after exams for students to characterize the nature of their errors and identify their individual strengths and weaknesses to guide further study.
- Instead of office hours, hold a “FREE Help Session” twice a week around a large table with bowl of snacks.
What is sense of belonging? How does this impact my classroom?
Over four years of study, Kevin Binning and co-researchers replaced student doubt about “Do I really belong here?” with the belief that adversity is universal and temporary. The 30-minute exercise below includes narrative writing, peer testimonials, and small group discussion that not only closes performance gaps between underrepresented and majority groups, and between genders, but also bolsters attendance, retention, and long-term performance for all students.
Introduction of Exercise:
The instructor introduces the idea that everyone struggles. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed or to sometimes wonder to yourself, ‘Do I really belong?’
Writing prompt (10 mins):
“Coming to college is a big transition. Write about the experiences and challenges you’ve had since coming to IUB. You can think about your experience with making friends, taking classes, adjusting to dorm life, and difficulties and challenges that have begun to improve as you have spent more time in college.” Collect the essays. Briefly scan and read from a handful of essays. “As I’m looking at some examples of what you all have written, I see a lot of very common concerns. I am also not surprised; I had some of the same concerns when I took first year physics.”
Peer testimonials:
Show students quotes from graduating seniors collected in advance and chosen to highlight overcoming challenges and initial loneliness (and be sure and have examples of men, women, and diverse groups.) Some example quotes: “Sometimes I had difficulty with an idea that my classmates understood. But the important thing is not to give up and help each other out.” OR “I felt unprepared for the increased workload and differences in grading of college. I felt stressed as a result. But then I got some help from the instructor and AI. I found a study group and was able to turn things around. Looking back, I think my struggles were pretty normal. Even though they seemed overwhelming at the moment.”
Discussion Prompts (7-8 mins. in teams):
- Why do you think people often think they’re the only one who worries about whether they fit in the in college?
- How do you think your life will be different when you’re a junior or a senior?
Debrief:
“Will someone share what you discussed in your group? This will help summarize the discussion for all of us and will give feedback for the physics department.” (The debrief is important to synthesize and summarize this exercise.)
This exercise pops the belief bubble that “I don’t belong.” It works great on the first day of class or when the class approaches a known bottleneck (a difficult concept or challenging test).
How can we teach with empathy, equity and justice in mind?
For too many years, instructors have left it up to somebody else to talk about the overt and systemic inequities facing historically excluded people. Now, every teacher is encouraged to face a powerful reckoning in higher education. “LACE, or Love, Authenticity, Courage, and Empathy, is a model for connecting people with values to bring about change. With LACE, change is not a checklist or a plan, but a lifestyle. By connecting the head with the heart, anti-racism and other forms of anti-oppression become who we are, not simply the work that we do” (Alex-Assensoh, 2020). Here are some examples…
- Love Slow down. Rather than focusing on getting through the curriculum, identify the truly crucial information and focus on creating passion and interest; using the classroom as the context, invite students to select a relevant area to build courage and commit to using the term to build muscle.
- Authenticity Structure ways for students to explain new information to one another, using examples from their own lives and experiences.
- Courage is contagious. Model it by daring to show up differently, assess differently or engage differently with students.
- Empathy Assign everyone in class a partner to interact with weekly via phone or text to talk about how the course material is resonating with their lived experiences; reflect on what you need to understand about the world today that the diverse students in your class are facing: Students with no internet or computers. Students living in abusive contexts and functioning with different levels of ability. Students for whom food and shelter are a daily struggle.
How can we include students as partners?
When faculty invite student partnerships, relationships are re-defined, with both students AND teachers becoming teachers and learners. The biggest difference is that everyone contributes on an equal footing, though not necessarily in the same ways. This effects student-teacher and student-institution relationships, as students gain voice. Faculty and students see each other as peers, as people who can meaningfully contribute to the process of teaching and learning.
Student partnerships may fall into one of four categories:
- Learning, teaching, and assessment (active participants in their own learning)
- Consultation on pedagogical and curriculum design
- Subject-based research & inquiry
- Teaching and learning based research and inquiry (SOTL) (Healey, Flint, and Harrington, 2014; Mercer-Mapstone et al., 2017; Cook-Sather, Bovill & Felton, 2014).
References
Alex‐Assensoh, Y. M. (2021, February). Using Neuroscience and Positive Psychology to Enhance College Teaching and Learning. In The National Teaching & Learning Forum (Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 1-3). Link: https://go.iu.edu/402m
Binning, K. (2019, October). Fostering a Sense of Belonging in the College Classroom: Peer Interactions that Improve Student Success. Sloan Equity and Inclusion in STEM Introductory Courses (SEISMIC) event, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Link: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/36006/
Canning, E. A., Muenks, K., Green, D. J., & Murphy, M. C. (2019). STEM faculty who believe ability is fixed have larger racial achievement gaps and inspire less student motivation in their classes. Science advances, 5(2), eaau4734.
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Encouragement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. The Higher Education Academy. Link: https://go.iu.edu/402t
Felten, P., & Lambert, L. M. (2020). Relationship-rich education: How human connections drive success in college. JHU Press.
Dweck, C. 2015. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Ballantine.
Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: a guide for faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S. L., Matthews, K. E., Abbot, S., Cheng, B., Felten, P., . . . Swaim, K. (2017). A systematic literature review of students as partners in higher education. International Journal for Students as Partners,1(1). doi:10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3119.
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